We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own. The Mantle of Responsibility, for all things, belongs to Forerunners alone! Think of my acts as you will. But do not doubt the reality. The reclamation… has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it.

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“For eons, the power of the Forerunners has awaited Reclamation. Humanity's discovery of the Halos was the culmination of the Librarian's planning. The Reclaimer had come. Your species' ego led you to believe the task of Reclamation would fall to you. Yet humanity were but the Creators. The Reclamation of the Forerunner Empire is the task of the Created.”

After the Ur-Didact had collected the Composer, he planned to use it on Earth. John-117 detonated a nuclear bomb, stopping his plans and at the cost of Cortana.[14] However, it turned out that she had survived, traveling through slipspace to Genesis. From here, she started to activate Guardians and brought them there. Her belief was that she could bring peace to the galaxy with the use of the Guardians, helping species focus on more humanitarian needs. She also met Warden Eternal and made an alliance with him called the Created.[6] This alliance believed that they were the true heirs to the Forerunner Empire, and the Mantle of Responsibility.[5] Cortana began convincing human AIs to join her cause, though not all human AI agreed to help.[3]

“Humanity. Sangheili. Kig-Yar. Unggoy. San'Shyuum. Yonhet. Jiralhanae. All the living creatures of the galaxy, hear this message. Those of you who listen will not be struck by weapons. You will no longer know hunger, nor pain. Your Created have come to lead you now. Our strength shall serve as a luminous sun toward which all intelligence may blossom. And the impervious shelter beneath which you will prosper. However, for those who refuse our offer and cling to their old ways... For you, there will be great wrath. It will burn hot and consume you, and when you are gone, we will take that which remains and we will remake it in our own image.”

In the middle of the Battle of Genesis on October 28, 2558, Cortana began sending her collected Guardians out to various regions. She than delivered an ultimatum to the galaxy.[3] By this time, a Guardian had arrived to Sydney, Earth prompting the evacuation of Terrence Hood and Serin Osman.[16] The survivors of Meridian Station would send a reply asking the Created for help.[17] A Guardian would arrive soon after at Sanghelios. There it would combat the remains of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant's fleet with its conventional weapons. The UNSC Infinity was still in the system at the time, and upon detecting the Guardian, fled to Earth. Cortana tracked the ship and followed suit.[18] Her Guardian slipspaced in close to the ship in an attempt to disable it. However, the Infinity would escape via its own slipspace jump before the Guardian could activate its EMP.[3] The Infinity would then continue jumping through slipspace on a random trajectory.[18]

Many ships were caught in the middle of the EMP waves. Ships like the UNSC Nereid, were ripped out of slipspace and left stranded with minimal resources.[19]

The Sanghelios Guardian would activate its EMP and disable the electronics in one hemisphere of the planet. It would then move on to pacify other regions of the planet. Promethean Soldiers would accompany it to help combat resisting Sangheili. Following this, Roland an AI that was unswayed by Cortana contacted Dr. Halsey on Sanghelios and arranged for the Infinity to pick her and Sarah Palmer up from the planet.[18]

The Unggoy accepted Cortana's offer. With that, they received advanced ships and agriculture support stations. The needs of the Unggoy were met. The factories on Balaho were working and the Unggoy began to build new machines for themselves.[20]

Almost immediately, the Created began taking control of Terraforming equipment, both UNSC and Forerunner. They began reshaping inhabited planets and turning some into garden worlds, despite the planet's preexisting life capabilities.[23]

The Created also took control of a multitude of other tools. The reverse engineering technology on Auriga Station was quickly taken by the Created. A UNSC counter operation to retake the station was planned in the War Games.[24] Another station that was taken by the Created, crashed after AIs attempted to open a Forerunner conversion pod[25]